1. Field
The present disclosure relates to network technology, and more particularly, to a network backup device whereby backup network equipment can be simplified and a network system having the network backup device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
With the development of local area network (LAN) and Internet technology, most work is being done on computers recently in companies, public institutions, and so on. Thus, cases of building a network environment by connecting personal computers (PCs) with each other to enable data sharing and exchange between employees are increasing. Also, in industrial fields, production facilities are automated and controlled through a network in general.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a constitution of a general network system.
Referring to FIG. 1, a network system includes a server farm 10, a server farm switch 20, a distribution switch 30, terminal switches 40, and terminal devices 50.
Here, the server farm 10, the server switch 20, and the distribution switch 30 are dualized, and even when a fault occurs in a main device, it is possible to run a network using an auxiliary device without interruption. However, the number of terminal switches 40 is far more than the number of server farm switches 20 and the number of distribution switches 30, and dualization of the terminal switches 40 requires high cost. Also, due to non-standardized characteristics of the terminal devices 50, it is difficult to dualize the terminal devices 50. As a result, there is no choice but to implement a single network of the terminal devices 50. Since the terminal switches 40 are implemented as a single set, network communication is interrupted when a fault occurs in the terminal switches 40.
For this reason, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0938738 (Jan. 26, 2010) described below discloses a network system in which a terminal switch is dualized to maintain communication without interruption even when a fault occurs in the terminal switch.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a backup method of a network system according to related art.
Referring to FIG. 2, a network system according to related art includes network switches 401, a backup network switch 405, terminal devices 500, and a network backup device 600.
Here, the terminal devices 500 are connected with the network switches 401 respectively through the network backup device 600. The network backup device 600 serves to switch any one of the five network switches 401 in which a fault has occurred to the backup network switch 405.
According to the related art, the network system is an n:1 backup network system in which the n network switches 401 are backed up by the one backup network switch 405. Thus, various configurations should be made in the backup network switch 405 according to cases in which the backup network switch 405 is used to back up the respective n network switches 401, and a constitution of the backup network switch 405 is complicated. Since the backup network switch 405 should replace a network switch in which a fault has occurred in a one-to-one fashion, the backup network switch 405 should have the same size and constitution as the network switches 401.
Since the network backup device 600 switches any one of the n network switches 401 in which a fault has occurred to the backup network switch 405, the network switches 401 should be prioritized to be switched to the backup network switch 405 when faults occur in several network switches. Also, priority orders of the network switches in which faults have occurred should be compared with each other, and thus a backup process of the network backup device 600 is complicated.
In addition, in the related art, the network backup device 600 should be manufactured to have the number of ports varying according to the number of the network switches 401 such that ports of the network backup device 600 are not wasted, resulting in an increase in production cost.